Sheffield United v Middlesbrough

Sheffield United host Middlesbrough at Bramall Lane on Wednesday evening. United boast a strong home record averaging over 2 points per game, and sit 2nd in the Championship table. Middlesbrough are 7th, 20 points behind their hosts. They are inconsistent, but on their day are capable of outplaying the best sides in the division.

⭐ Sheffield United v Middlesbrough Best Bet

As you might expect from a Chris Wilder side, Sheffield United play with an aggressive edge. They average 2.5 cards per home game in the Championship, whilst the most frequently achieved total of cards at Bramall Lane is 3, which they have received 4 times. 

They face a Middlesbrough side whose opponents this season have picked up the 2nd highest number of cards per game. They themselves only average 1.6 cards per game, so Sheffield United are good for an extra card per game on average.

The players the Blades have signed in January are all no strangers to the referee's notebook either, with Harry Clarke and Hamza Choudhury both picking up yellow cards at a better rate than 1 every 4 90s last season. Sheffield United picked up 4 cards to Portsmouth's 1 last time out and odds of 2.30 for them to do the same again represent good value here.

👕 Sheffield United v Middlesbrough Predicted XI

🔍 Sheffield United v Middlesbrough Players to Watch

🔴 Gustavo Hamer

Gus Hamer is Sheffield United’s top goalscorer this season with 7 league goals to his name, adding the latest goal to his tally against Portsmouth at the weekend.

Since January 1st, Hamer has started 5 games in the Championship, and taken 19 shots in the process, with 7 shots on target. Across the whole season, he averages exactly 1 shot on target per 90. To be getting close to evens for Hamer to test the keeper looks a very good price.

⚪ George Edmundson

Although we don’t fancy Boro to pick up as many cards as their hosts, George Edmundson is by the far most likely of their players to find himself in trouble with the referee and looks excellent value to do so at 3.60.

He has picked up 8 yellow cards this season, which if you remove the injured Ben Doak who is on 7, is 5 more than the next best Hayden Hackney. He averages less than a foul per game, so it is more the nature of the fouls he commits than the volume of them.

The Blades have a couple of good card drawers in Tyrese Campbell and Rhian Brewster, who often come on late in games to provide a text for tiring defensive legs.

📂 Sheffield United v Middlesbrough Cheat Sheet

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💻 Sheffield United v Middlesbrough Form and Tactics

Sheffield United are in good form having won 4 of their last 5 games, the loss was a 0-3 beating at Bramall Lane by Hull, which looks to be a bit of an outlier. With that said, The Blades are not as defensively assured as they were earlier in the season, the absence of Harry Souttar is perhaps a big contributor to that. In their first 10 home games, they only conceded 2 goals, but in their last 5, they have conceded 7.

They will set up with their usual 4-2-3-1, with two solid, athletic central midfielders in Souza and Choudhury, and the players in front given license to create.

Michael Carrick’s Middlesbrough are in a poor run of form stretching back to the start of December. Since then, they have just 3 wins from 13 games. A total of 14 points from 12 league games is not the return of a side who were well in the automatic promotion race at the start of December. 

They have lost Emmanuel Latte Lath to the MLS and star man Ben Doak through injury. Finn Azaz, who was on fire a couple of months ago, has just 4 goal contributions in his last 12 appearances, whilst Tommy Conway has been battling for fitness for a couple of months now. They do their best to still play an attractive brand of passing football, and will likely match United’s 4-2-3-1.

🏁 Sheffield United v Middlesbrough Ref Watch

• Referee - Matt Donohue
• Donohue has shown 4 red cards this season, the second highest tally of any referee.

📺 How to Watch Sheffield United v Middlesbrough in the Championship

📅 When is Sheffield United v Middlesbrough? / Wednesday, 12th February 2025, 20:00
🏟 Where is Sheffield United v Middlesbrough? / Bramall Lane (Sheffield)
📺 What TV Channel is Sheffield United v Middlesbrough on? / Sky Sports Main Event
🟨 …And who is the referee for Sheffield United v Middlesbrough? / Matt Donohue 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

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* I recommend waiting for confirmed team line-ups before placing any bets.

* All odds displayed correct at the time of publishing.